Chuva
by llamachan
Summary: Jackal has a surprise; what lengths must Marui go to get it? Friendship. Originally written for Rikkai Exchange.


Marui never enjoyed this area of Tokyo, but he couldn't quite put his finger on exactly why he disliked it. It wasn't the myriad of depressing, abandoned buildings, or the haze that made the sky always look dreary, no matter how bright and sunny it was outside. It wasn't the crowds of people on the upper-side-of-middle-age-but-in-the-dumps-everywhere-else which seemed to be intruding on every side.

He adjusted his school tie and looked down at the hurriedly drawn map in his hand-Jackal had insisted that he come meet him i_directly_/iafter school, since tennis practice had been canceled for the day. This was i_important_/i, he reminded Marui in his note, and he would appreciate it if he came. And when Marui thought about it, it seemed only fair. After all, Jackal was his best friend.

When he asked why; Jackal only smiled and shook his head. He then cautioned Marui not to tell anyone else; that this was supposed to be a surprise. When Marui asked politely, pestered, bugged, and threatened everything from hiding his razor to telling buchou, Jackal only laughed and shook his head, and said he'd find out later.

Marui kicked at a stray stone on the sidewalk and tried to find his way through the narrow, unnamed streets. Did Jackal just _have_ to pick the most remote place in the city when they could have been tormenting Kirihara or playing video games? He had just gotten his hands on that new Super Smash Brothers game the day before and was dying to try it out. Instead, he was stuck trying not to get lost i_and_/i figuring out if it was really going to rain, or if it was just that stupid haze.

_Why was Jackal skulking around this kind of area, anyway__?_ There was nothing here that had to do with tennis, or good food, or anything that he liked. Just a ton of dilapidation and…and…

…Something that _growled_. Marui resisted the urge to run and slowly turned around to look for the source.

A rail-thin, colorless dog was glaring at him. Marui reached down to pet him, but immediately withdrew his hand in disgust. The thing was crawling with fleas and probably mange, and there was no way he was going to get his hand all gross with its fur.

The dog growled again, warning that Marui looked like a very tasty meal.

Within seconds, Marui was suddenly very thankful that he did have to run all of those laps during tennis club practice as he tore down the street, the nuisance still yapping at his heels. How much longer could it be, anyway? He was bound to find the place soon, and this stupid dog was going to have to stop running at some point.

Fuck, the stupid thing was making him run off-track. He stuck his hands into his pockets and found the remains of a piece of cake that had been tucked into his bag when he wasn't looking and threw it at the dog, hoping that would make him stop tailing behind.

A few moments later, he heard a contented munching. Marui kept up his pace, though, just in case the dog changed its mind.

"The things that I do for you, Jackal," Marui muttered to himself as he continued on. After all, he was giving up his entire afternoon to run around Tokyo to find some sort of big surprise, and he thought for a moment that his time could be much better spent on candy, or going to the candy store with Jackal and begging for the new sour apple gum that came out last week, and Jackal sighing and pulling out his wallet and saying that it was for the _last time, Bunta_, and Marui grinning and figuring out a way to bring Jackal to his favorite video game store.

"Do I turn here?" Marui muttered to himself and looked again for his map.

Empty. His pocket was empty.

…Fuck. All of his pockets were empty, and he double-checked to make sure he wasn't holding it.

"Oh do _not_ tell me-" Marui started to trace his steps. It must have fallen out of his pocket when he threw the cake to the dog, and it was probably lying on the street somewhere. That had to be it. That was, if he could remember exactly where he had met that stupid dog.

At least he had his phone for emergencies, if Jackal would pick up or if he could get service out here. He patted the side of his schoolbag, feeling more than a bit relieved when he realized that yes, at least he had that. And he had to be close, anyway, since it had looked like he was almost at the end of the map.

Was Jackal angry at him and this was some sort of strange, twisted punishment? But even if he was mad, he wouldn't put Marui in danger, would he? He chewed at his nail and cursed himself for wasting his last piece of bubblegum at lunch earlier. Jackal always scolded him when he started biting at his nails, telling him it was a disgusting habit and to stick with bubblegum, even if the gum would end up giving him cavities and rotting out his teeth. Marui would laugh at him and just ask when he was going over to his house again for dinner.

No, that couldn't be it. Jackal didn't sound angry when he gave him the map, just really excited; that this was something that they were both going to love.

_"Joyopolis?" Marui asked, eager to revisit his favorite arcade._

"_No, it's not that." Jackal smirked and started to untie his shoes. "You're not going to guess."_

"_What could be more exciting than Joyopolis?" He wondered out loud. When Jackal's back was turned, Marui snatched his English homework to copy before classes started. "So this is really cool, right? Hey, what about Disneyland?"_

"_Put that back and start doing your homework yourself, Bunta! And no, not Disneyland. I spent the rest of my allowance on this." _

"_I will, I will." Marui started to scribble down answers on his hand. "Besides, you did Akaya's, what's the big deal with me copying?"_

_Jackal snatched his homework out of Marui's grasp and put it back into his bag. "Yukimura gave me three hours of laps yesterday for it. I would have gotten six if he knew you took mine, too." _

_Marui rolled his eyes. "You would have gotten that just because he was in a bad mood. Anyway-"_

_He was cut off by the warning bell. "Shit, we gotta run. So I'm meeting you there, right?"_

"_Right. See you."_

Marui could tell now that Jackal wasn't lying about where he was going. There was nothing cool here, nothing that he would love, and he was all ready to yell at Jackal the second that he saw him. What was he thinking?

He wandered further; too caught up in his thoughts to really examine his surroundings. They were becoming bleaker and bleaker, and the amount of abandoned or half-destroyed buildings was becoming greater.

…Perhaps that was a good thing.

Marui paused at a corner, seeing salvation in a street sign that was just a bit too hard to read. But before he could get closer, he was pulled into a nearby alley and slammed up against the wall.

Oh _shit_. He opened his eyes to see him staring straight into the face of a greasy-looking young man in a torn up leather jacket.

Marui smiled and tried to twist out of his grip. The other man bore holes into him with his stare.

"Where the hell is it?" The man demanded in rough Japanese. "It's fucking _time_!"

"Time for what?" Marui squeaked.

"Pay up! Five million yen, right here, right now. Or you're not going to see your sister alive!"

"My sister…" Marui trailed off. "Oh god, not my sister! What are you bastards doing to her?"

One of the man's hands jabbed underneath Marui's chin and held him up. "You saw the photos."

"No I—wait."

"There's no more time left for you!"

"….I don't _have_ a sister."

His attacker stared at Marui. "You don't?"

"Nope. Only brothers."

Marui was dumped to the ground in an ungraceful heap. "You never saw me, we clear?"

"Crystal," Marui agreed, nodding eagerly. "Crystal clear."

The man turned and skulked off into the alley, leaving Marui to shakily stand up and try to collect himself. After a few moments, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He hadn't pissed his pants.

"…The things I do for you, Jackal." Marui cast one last nervous glance down the alley and made his way back into the street. Really, this was going much too far, and Marui was steaming. He could have gotten killed in that alley, and all for this stupid surprise! He knew at this point that it couldn't be anything good. What did he want, to show some random buildings or something? Or maybe he wanted to have Marui participate in some sort of charity work. _So_ not his thing.

…But if he wanted that, then it wouldn't be a great surprise for Marui. That was Jackal's personality. He'd gone to visit when Jackal was coaching some underprivileged kids in tennis, and Marui could tell how devoted he was to them. It showed in the way he helped adjust grips, the tone of his voice during practices, and just the way he talked about them to the Rikkai team.

Even though Jackal was always stuck as Kirihara's babysitter, he really didn't seem to mind it until he got in trouble for not keeping an eye on him. Marui was simply glad that Sanada hadn't chosen him for that duty. Two little brothers was plenty, he didn't need to baby-sit a third.

…In fact, Marui had bitched enough the one day he was stuck with Kirihara when Jackal was out with a cold that he came to afternoon practice, sick as a dog, just so Marui would be able to practice in peace. Marui hadn't thanked him.

When he thought about it, had he ever thanked him?

"Am I really a dick?" He wondered out loud.

The sudden downpour answered his question. Marui cursed and started to run, trying to avoid puddles that would ruin his shoes and cause his mom to have one hell of a tongue lashing. Fuck, everything was going _wrong_!

If Jackal had just come with him, he would have known where to go, probably knew how to calm down the dog, and that creepy alleyway guy would have never approached him. But no, he just had to make things difficult.

_This surprise had better be nothing less than Koda Kumi naked._

He found shelter under an awning that was on its last hinge and looked like it would break any time soon. Marui figured he could wait out the storm just a bit, even if he didn't want to be outside any longer than he had to. He sighed and leaned against the door, jumping when he heard it creak and start to push open. In what seemed like seconds to him, an old woman was standing in the doorway, staring at him and saying nothing.

_Could be my way out._

"Uh...hey." Marui straightened his tie and tried to look as presentable as he could. "I'm trying to meet a friend, could you please tell me where-"

The woman clutched at her frayed kimono and hissed. "Begone, O Child of Darkness!"

"Child of _whatthefuck_?" Marui groaned; not another crazy. "Look, lady. I'm not--"

"Bunta, you idiot!"

Marui hurriedly looked up as the door behind him slammed shut. Jackal was across the street, frantically waving. "I'm over here!"

Of course Marui had missed the only building that actually had lights on and had Jackal standing in front of it. He dodged across the street, narrowly missing a speeding car.

"You look like you had an adventure," Jackal greeted.

"Yeah, I did." Marui's eyes glanced up at the building. "But I'll tell you about that later, what's the surprise?" He searched for any type of sign, anything that would tell him what the place was.

"Do you remember that concert I was telling you about?" Jackal asked. "Well, this is it!"

Concert...Marui vaguely remembered Jackal talking his ear off about how his favorite singer was going to be in Tokyo, and how he hoped he could get tickets. He had no idea...

...Wait. Jackal liked _enka_.

"Oh no."

"No?" Jackal looked at him, surprised.

"I did not just get lost, chased by a dog, attacked by some yakuza grunt, get yelled at by an old lady AND ran through the rain to listen to a goddamn cat walking across a piano! What the _fuck_ were you thinking, huh? What the fuck." Marui turned and started to stomp off, suddenly forgetting about the downpour.

"I'm sorry, Bunta. I just thought you might like something I liked for a change." Jackal's face fell and Marui instantly felt guilty. What was with that? "But I have the tickets, and it's a way out of the rain, right?"

Marui shuffled his feet and poked the toe of his shoes into one of the many cracks in the sidewalk. He was going to be just as lost if he left, and he had forgotten his umbrella at home. It was a little later than he expected, but he was hungry and there was always the possibility that Jackal would buy him dinner after listening to women wearing too much makeup screech their hearts out.

"....Yeah. I guess so," he grudgingly agreed.

Jackal clapped his shoulder and led them into the mostly empty theater, where the show had already begun. "We don't have to stay too long. We could just wait until the rain lets up," he muttered as he selected seats.

Marui sat in the least torn up chair he could find and stared up at the ceiling, wondering how much more time the place had until the duct tape holding it together gave way and left it a pile of rubble. He wasn't going to enjoy this, not at-

_As coisas vulgares que ha na vida nao deixam saudades..._

...All? Marui blinked in surprise. This couldn't be enka, the woman actually sounded good!

He glanced at Jackal, who had his eyes closed and was listening with rapt attention. If Marui looked close enough, he could even see him smile. He had no idea what kind of music it was, or what she was singing (although she sounded pretty sad).

"Fado." Jackal's voice brought Marui back to reality.

"Fado?"

"Portuguese music," Jackal explained. "It's kind of like enka."

"No it's not," Marui protested. "It's good!"

"So's enka," Jackal teased before settling back.

Marui couldn't quite put his finger on why he was enjoying it so much. The song's bluesy tune and mournful sounding vocals were nothing like the pop music that he always had blasting on the radio. There weren't any strobe lights or pounding drums, just a pretty-looking young woman in the middle of a dark stage with a guitar. The lack of visuals didn't bore him, though. Marui found himself drawn into the passion the young woman sang with, and he felt as though he could even cry. He had no idea why everything she played was so sad, but found it easy to empathize with her.

Even with the mood that hung over the theater, Marui found his own problems and annoyances drifting away.

No wonder why Jackal was so into fado.

It seemed as though the concert only lasted a moment, and suddenly they were all standing up and applauding, and Marui was leading Jackal out of the theater, both still spellbound and starry-eyed.

Every time Marui came to the theater, he took the long way around-through the junkies and homeless, tossing a few coins their way when he could spare them. There were no angry dogs or confused gangsters, the old woman had died long ago. The theater was still there and had grown into an increasingly dilapidated state over the years. Marui still went, still sat in the same seat to listen to the Portuguese singers who would come through on impulse.

His phone beeped after the concert, indicating a text message. Marui knew who it was without even looking, and ignored it until he was back into the sunshine.

The message was a single line of Portuguese.

_Ha dias que marcam a alma e a vida da gente_.

Marui mustered a tiny smile and responded.

_E aquele em que tu me deixaste nao posso esquecer_.

_They're tearing the building down, did you hear?_

_No_, Jackal responded. i_Where are you going to go now?_

…_How's Brazil this time of year?_

He could almost hear Jackal's laugh through the next message he sent, inviting him to visit once summer break started at his university.

_I'll even make you a map._

Marui laughed this time and quickly dialed his number, ready to see his friend again after years of separation.

_Ha dias que marcam a alma e a vida da gente._

_E aquele em que tu me deixaste nao posso esquecer._

_There are days that leave marks in your soul and our life,_

_And the one you've left me, I cannot forget._


End file.
